Moreno and Guijarro Pace Cross Country Teams at Big West Championships

San Luis Obispo, CA- UC Santa Barbara junior Dani
Moreno raced to a third place finish to help the Gaucho women
capture third place at the 2013 Big West Championships contested on
a hilly Fairbanks Memorial Cross Country Course.

Sophomores Brian Guijarro
and Anthony
Ortolan finished in 6th and 7th place to help lead the Gaucho
men to a second place team finish behind the home team winner Cal
Poly.

The men's 8000m gun went off at 9:45am. Starting on a freshly
cut pasture on top of hardpack and dried wheatgrass, the Gaucho men
quickly established position in the front of the initial stampede.
At the 1 mile mark, Brian Guijarro was just off the hip of the
leader and eventual winner, Chris Frias of Cal Poly. Ortolan, Bryce Rausa,
Andrew
Farkas, Tyler Brady, Adam Avila,
Anthony Monroy and Brad Littooy were in direct tow. A course
characterized with long gradual ascents and rolling downhill
straights, Fairbanks Memorial didn't waste much time spreading out
the runners and breaking a lead pack from the rest of the race.

As the runners dropped off the top of the course and opened up
their gait into the downhill section leading into the 2 mile point,
a wave of appreciative crowd noise grew and the now established
crowd lined the quarter mile section between the start and finish
lines. Guijarro, Ortolan, Rausa and Farkas all looked strong while
keeping contact with the trio of Cal Poly Mustangs charging on.
Guijarro still running stride for stride with Frias for the
lead.

The three mile point broke the race wide open as the runners
traversed a gradual switchback looping the course back into the
final direction of the finish. Guijarro and Ortolan kept contact
with the lead pack. Rausa and Farkas drifted 20m back but still
running tall. Four UCSB runners were holding onto a position in the
top-10. 1500m specialist, Shyan Vaziri
suddenly came into the picture displaying a break through cross
country moment for the track speedster. For a few brief moments the
race was out of sight but a faint cowbell down the home straight
sounded the call that the finish surge was on. Chris Frias and
Mitchell Moriarty of Cal Poly would take the top-2 spots.

Rausa sprinted through the finish line to take the 9th scoring
place. Putting three Gauchos in the top-10 behind the efforts of
Guijarro (6) and Ortolan (7). Vaziri would go on to take 12th and
Anthony Monroy finished in 15th. Adam Avila rounded out the
top-20.

The top-5 runners for the Gauchos would capture top-15 placings
but it wasn't enough to hold off Cal Poly, 32-49. UC Davis finished
in third with 54 points. UC Santa Barbara improved on their
pre-race ranking of 3rd coming into the Big West Championships.

Head Coach Pete Dolan was proud of his men's team effort: "These
guys are good and they improved so much over the summer. We
improved from last year and this was a good effort. Unfortunately
today, we couldn't overcome Poly's powerhouse trio."

The Gaucho women were playing catch up from the sound of the
gun. In fact everyone was. A possessed Lauren Hollander, the
sophomore from Cal Poly led wire to wire over the 6,000m course and
won by over a minute. The real race going on was for second as UC
Santa Barbara's Dani Moreno went toe to toe with
the powerful junior from UC Davis, Katie Fry.

Out of the gate, Moreno took command of the chase pack. Trailing
closely behind were fellow Gauchos, Christine Cooperstein and
Maxine Goyette. "Coop" drove hard into the first hill with Moreno
setting the pace a meter a head. Hollander's lead grew at each
split, and the crowd became accustomed to hearing the cowbell start
and stop as she passed then restart as the chase pack came
into view. At the 12 minute mark Moreno broke into second, with Fry
trailing closely behind. Moreno speaking on her battle with Fry and
the lead pack, "I knew I had to string them out. We were all
bunched up and everyone was hesitant to take it. I was confident so
I went. My form kept well and I could feel myself coming on."

And on she was. At the three mile, Fry and Moreno were neck and
neck with the final loop remaining. Coop was following their battle
for second closely and surged up to challenge. Moreno went on to
take third with Coop on her heels securing the fourth scoring spot.
Sophomore Sarah Schreck moved up to take 17th while Freshman Emily
Lopez rounded out the top 20. Maxine Goyette took 21st and Baily
Miller, 24th.

The Gauchos got an added boost from their spring track and field
counterparts who showed up enmasse to cheer on their teammates.
Volunteer Assistant Coach Ryan Martin ran the course in the early
morning before the race and had this to say in regards to the
hills, "It's pretty brutal. Those inclines are 3/4 of a mile and
the downhills are fast. You are flying downhill. It creates an even
playing field."

The uphill climbs and downhill sprints made for an entertaining
race, at least for the spectators. Coach Dolan who routinely trains
his athletes on local hills in Goleta and Santa Barbara had similar
thoughts but was quick to point out the difficulty. "You can go
into a hurt box real quick if you don't recover."

Up next for the Gauchos will be the NCAA West Regionals on
November 14th in Sacramento.